St. Michael earns league’s top billing
Warriors blank Lutcher in battle of district’s top teams
“Our whole defense played lights-out in shutting down their opportunities. When we win, it’s usually a shutout. That’s our 13th win and our 12th shutout.” PAUL FLETCHER, St. Michael coach
St. Michael the Archangel captured the Division II, District 6 boys soccer championship with a 1-0 win over Lutcher in a spirited but sloppy game at the BREC Soccer Complex on Wednesday night.
Both teams had already qualified for the playoffs, but one of the largest soccer crowds of the season was on hand to see which one would advance as the No. 1 team from the district.
In their first matchup during the season, St. Michael (13-7-3, 9-0 in district) had topped Lutcher (11-9-1, 7-2) on penalty kicks in the game on the Bulldogs’ home field.
The heavy rains that fell on Baton Rouge in the afternoon stopped before game time, but the showers created a treacherous playing surface with huge puddles hidden by the grass.
The wet surface caused several whiffs, shanks and falls, and nearly every sequence was effected by the water.
“The field looks really good until the puddles sneak up on you, so we changed our approach,” St. Michael coach Paul Fletcher said. “We made the decision early to play the ball forward fast. You couldn’t dribble well at all because you didn’t know where the puddles were, so we played three aggressive forwards which we normally wouldn’t do.”
The emphasis on offense paid off for the Warriors as they kept the ball on the Lutcher end of the field for much of the game, outshooting Lutcher 11-4 and creating chances on corner kicks throughout the first half. But they couldn’t get the ball in the net until the 69th minute.
Senior forward Cleland Monticello made a stellar individual play, dribbling down the left diagonal through two defenders and blasting a shot to the far post past Lutcher goalkeeper Coy Amato.
“Cleland Monticello made a fantastic play. Not a lot you can do about that,” Lutcher coach Zack Miller said. “They’ve got a lot of offensive talent on the ball. They had the better of the run of play the whole game and we kind of hung on. That’s been our style against teams like this.
“St. Michael had better effort to the ball and they were in better shape,” he said.
That the Warriors didn’t score more was a credit to the Bulldogs defense led by Amato, who had seven saves, and defenders Zachary Zimmer, Paul Faucheux and Ridge Melancon who made good plays around in the net.
Amato had to make two saves in the first five minutes, then blocked Monticello’s shot in the 33rd minute, and saved a powerful shot by Beau Aucoin later in the half.
Fletcher also gave credit to his defense in the win.
“Our whole defense played lights-out in shutting down their opportunities,” he said. “When we win, it’s usually a shutout. That’s our 13th win and our 12th shutout.”
Lutcher came up short on two quality scoring chances, one in each half. In the first half, Ben Becnel maneuvered for a close-in shot but didn’t connect cleanly and St. Michael goalkeeper Jacob Bordelon dove to capture the ball before Becnel could follow.
Forward Nic Gatch, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer on the season, pushed an open shot wide right in the 67th minute.
Fletcher applauded the Bulldogs as an improved team, and Miller agreed.
“I’m pleased with the way we’ve come up,” Miller said. “In a year we’ve gone from losing (to good teams) seven or eight to nothing to being right there with them.”